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Managing HorseWorld’s data, its relationships with supporters, members, animals and its income streams is highly complex.

“When I took over,” says Mark Owen, Managing Director, “we had a customer relationship management (CRM) system designed specifically for charities. However, it was based around fundraising and donations and fell far short in helping us to manage our animals’ records, Gift Aid and growing memberships. Coupled with the fact that the old CRM system didn’t integrate easily with our other packages and we had perpetual problems with the other system, we really wanted to change.”

“We turned to our IT partner, Chorus,” continues Mark “who suggested we look at Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It’s very competitively priced – which is important for charities – but it’s also flexible, scalable, and works seamlessly with other Microsoft packages we use a lot, in particular Outlook and Excel. It’s straightforward to use and very intuitive.”

We have very ambitious growth plans. I’m very confident the systems and IT partner we have in place are scalable and flexible enough to take us to many new levels.Managing Director, Horseworld

“Chorus ensured everything looked the same as our existing systems, so staff readily accepted the change in system,” recalls Mark. “They use the system to manage all our animals’ details, including special needs and veterinary history, and can rely on the calendar system to diarise treatments and scheduled visits to horses on loan. Previously we did all this using pen and paper! Now it’s all automated, backed up and very easy to manage. It’s transformed the way we manage GiftAid, donations and our 23,000-strong database of current and potential supporters.”

“As an IT man I’m very impressed that Microsoft continues to invest billions into its products: there’s no confidence issue and their products will only ever get better and better,” says Mark. “Reporting is very simple, too. I no longer have to get vendors in to develop reports – the information just pumps in and out, for example into Excel, and we can ‘mine’ our data very easily. I can’t praise it, or Chorus, highly enough."

What next?

If you are interested in Dynamics CRM why not use this 30-day free trial (for up to 25 users) so you can start seeing how your business could benefit.